Final exam week stress and study solutions
By Liz Reichart, A&E Editor //
With the final exam schedule in full swing, the students of High Point University eagerly await the summer of 2014. However the closing examinations of the semester stand as the last hurdle to jump before three months of relaxation and warm weather can begin for this student body. Many see final exams as a make-or-break period of time, where grades are won and lost, where time A’s become B’s in a matter of hours, where semesters of learning culminate in a three hours span of time.
But looking at exams through do-or-die colored glasses will only result in the culmination of more stress on the part of students. Instead of pulling your hair out and lashing out on your best friends who simply don’t understand how much biology you need to learn before 8 a.m. tomorrow, (trust me, we’ve all been there), here are some tips on handling stress during this crunch week and study suggestions that will keep your anxiety down to a minimum.
The most important thing to do during finals week if you’re looking to get higher grades in those difficult courses is simply to be prepared. Start studying a week before your exam to avoid cramming information into your head minutes before exams. Preparation is the key to success when it comes to aceing tests. This often requires students to come up with a study plan for their exams, usually around two weeks from when their tests are scheduled to take place.
Student tutor and sophomore Lydia Prior has been invited to speak at numerous conferences for her keen abilities in helping students understand and study classroom material.
“For those studying for final exams, I would suggest the widely known five-day study plan,” Prior says. The plan dictates that students study material in manageable chunks.
“Say you have five chapters you know you have to study for a test. Five days out, you would study one chapter per night”, Prior says.
When it comes to deciding whether to sleep or to continue to cram, sleep! Not to sound like every mother that has ever sent their child off to college, but there is evidence to support this often annoyingly doted phrase.
A UCLA study by professor of psychiatry Andrew J. Fuligni and UCLA graduate student Cari Gillen O’Neel proved that sacrificing sleep for extra study time, whether it’s cramming for a test or plowing through a pile of homework, is actually counterproductive.
Even if a student studies each and every day, when said student gives up valuable sleep time for test studying or simply doing homework, he or she is far more likely to have more academic stumbles the next day.
“No one is suggesting that students shouldn’t study,” said Fuligni, the study’s senior author. “But an adequate amount of sleep is also critical for academic success. These results are consistent with emerging research suggesting that sleep deprivation impedes leaning.”
Another important factor in minimizing stress and studying the right way is to study in an environment with few distractions and in one that is comfortable to the student. We at High Point University know that the Wanek Center Learning Commons is a great place to study, but when final exams roll around, the entire university population emerges from the woodwork to scout out a coveted window seat that isn’t under a vent that feels like you’re studying in the arctic tundra.
If the Learning Commons is too crowded during the final calendar week for your liking, there are many lesser known options for getting your anthropology 101 grind on. The second and third floors of the Nido Qubein School of Communication offers comfy leather chairs that spin, large tables for completing those last minute group projects, and numerous rooms to use desktop computers to print from.
Another under-utilized area for studying are the second and third floor lobbies of the Plato S. Wilson School of Commerce. Tables and couches in these open spaces will surely offer you the study environment you’re looking for.
And if you really are looking to isolate yourself from every human walking this campus because you simply can’t find the concentration needed to write that 10-page international relations paper, I suggest you fight tooth and nail for a private study room on the first floor of the Phillips School of Business. These rooms with closing doors and no outside distractions are sure to keep you a far enough distance from that roommate who picked this week of all weeks to buy a new stereo system.
In addition, you can focus on studying by offering yourself food incentives, for example, by eating a gummy bear for every chapter you read. Although not great for your summer beach body, your grades will thank you. To meditate and or relieve stress further, The HPU Rec Center offers group yoga classes Sundays at 3 p.m.,Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 p.m., and Mondays and Wednesdays at 9 p.m. in Slane.
Overall, the best approach to exams is to come in prepared, focused and well-rested. Be organized and concentrate on classes for just one more week. The light at the end of the tunnel is a carefree summer.